It wasn't inherently clear to me at first that this thread was strictly regarding physical submissions. Some of us have no plans to mail in our entry, and so some of the information can be conflicting. Maybe edit the post for a section on electronic submission, or, just tell us to not include the cover letters, if to include the title page, if having various virtual page sizes ultimately matter, et cetera. Or maybe yet, perhaps I'm missing another post somewhere, being new and all.

"I saw, I wrote, I changed the world a little." - Bean, from Ender's Shadow by OSC

Sorry for ninja-bumping this, but I thought I should keep things all in one place so to say.

I'm getting conflicting answers on formatting the manuscript. I talked to one quarter winner who said she used Times New Roman and italicized (instead of courier and underlining). I read from others that you should always use the standard manuscript format. Then I read that it's not so stringent anymore.

Does anyone have any recent advice for this? This topic seems to have evolved a bit over time, so I was wondering what the consensus was.

I think it depends largely on the market you're submitting to. Some markets will tell you flat out that they want you to single-space, others don't mention guidelines at all. If a market (like WotF) doesn't specifically mention which font to use, either Courier or Times New Roman are normally fine.

The thing about the underline versus italics is kind of odd. Back in the day, before the internet, you would have been submitting by paper, and italics might have been missed by the type-setter. But now, since many editors will use the digital document that you sent, italics are fine because the computer isn't going to over look them. In literary circles editors (I'm told) prefer italics to underlining, but genre editors (I'm told) still prefer underlining. At this point it probably doesn't matter because lots of editors have e-readers, tablets, or forms on their computers that automatically format electronic submissions with the style they like to read in.

Make sure you get the specifications that they list on the WotF website correct. Don't worry too much about the rest. The editor is looking for good stories. If your story is readable you'll be fine.

WotF Website wrote:6. Entries submitted hardcopy must be typewritten or a computer printout in black ink on white paper, printed only on the front paper, double spaced, with numbered pages. All other formats will be disqualified. Each entry must have a cover page with the title of the work, the author's legal name, a pen name if applicable, address, telephone number, email address and an approximate word count. Every subsequent page must carry the title and a page number, but the author's name must be deleted to facilitate fair, anonymous judging.

Entries submitted electronically must be double-spaced and must include the title and page number on each page, but not the author's name. Electronic submissions will separately include the author's legal name, pen name if applicable, address, telephone number, email address and approximate word count.

Strycher, thank you so much. I have read the rules, yes, but when I come here, I see different answers. This is specifically for the Writers of the Future contest. Your comments were really helpful in clarifying! Thank you again.

ZombieWife wrote:Strycher, thank you so much. I have read the rules, yes, but when I come here, I see different answers. This is specifically for the Writers of the Future contest. Your comments were really helpful in clarifying! Thank you again.

Aye, for the contest it doesn't matter as long as it's not in bright pink on a yellow piece of paper.

(Welcome aboard, by the way! Come on over to the "contest" board and introduce yourself!)